What We Do

SCI’s unique role is to spread solar thermal cooking technology to the people who need it most, in the quickest and most effective way possible.

For most, the daily task of cooking meals is routine. But for those who forage for fuel, prepare meals and pasteurize drinking water over open fires, cooking is a dangerous and time-consuming job. Burning biomass fuels undermines health, quality of life, educational systems, economies, and the environment. Because nearly 3 billion people eat food cooked over open fires, forests are cut down faster than they can rejuvenate. When organic matter burns instead of being returned to the land, soil erodes and crop production drops.

Our global goal is for 20% of all families, worldwide, to have access to solar cooking technology by 2030. Thanks to SCI and the SCInet members, more than 155,000 solar cookers have been distributed globally. Your support helps spread this important technology to people in sun-rich, fuel-starved regions.

We show people how to cook with sun on sunny days, how to use an improved cookstove at night and during inclement weather, and how to use a retained-heat cooker with both of these cooking methods. With SCI’s simple water pasteurization indicator, people can make their water safe to drink by heating it in a solar oven, saving fuel.